I was born and grew up in the US. I lived in Africa in the 80s. Mada will not accept my blood. The policy of refusing blood is not a racist policy, it is simply good practice to ensure that AIDs is not spread through transfusions.
Not every act which singles out a group is racist. HIV is endemic in many areas in sub-Saharan Africa. That is a simply, if tragic, fact.
Frankly, if I ever need a transfusion, I don't want to be endangered in order to make some people feel loved.

this needs to be out in the open, stated clearly and honestly.
It is quite proper that there are many limitations on blood use, including excluding those who visited parts of Asia, mad-cow areas at certain times, and Africa; but that is no excuse not to tell people the truth. People aren't stupid, they can understand, if these things are explained properly. The worst is to act hypocritically.

That this has anything to do with HIV. No they can screen the blood, many people don't even know they have HIV so if you apply your theory no4 all blood would be throw out- just in case.
I was more interested in this"or has spent over six months in Britain, or was in France, Ireland or Portugal for over 10 years"
Why would they not take blood from someone spending 6 months in Britain? that must wipe off lots of donors right there I know loads of people who do 6 months to a year here before and after the army. very odd, I think the MDA needs to elaboarte futher on their reasoning.

i used to be a blood donor in the uk... but they won't take my blood here. is that discrimination ? yes, of course.. but i understand why.. its because of mad cows disease.
when i tried to donate again during the war.. they told me i could, but they wouldn't use my blood for transfusions.. i didn't know what else they could use it for.. so i didn't donate. was i upset..? yes.
could they test for mad cows disease ? probably... and some of these other diseases too... but perhaps its too expensive, or the quality of the tests isn't good enough..?
obviously the mda should explain the criterior to everybody who wants to donate. they did to me.
i'm sure that most of the ethiopians here below a certain age were born here.. and therefor their blood should be ok.
i certainly don't have any problem with getting a blood donation from anybody.. as long as it has been properly screened/tested and is the right blood group.
maybe the mda should test a certain % of blood from wouldbe ethiopian donors to see how it compares with the same % of other israeli donors and see if there is cause for concern. they could do the same for us brits too. after all perhaps the mda made a blanket rule years ago, that no longer applies.
they really need to reassess their criterior. after all hiv i believe takes about 3 months to show up... so by that criterior, they should only take blood from people who are not yet /no longer sexually active.. or are in monogomous relationships, (which is not always so easy to know :) )

If there is a risk of disease from regions of the world, no matter how small, kol hakavod to Mada for not accepting the blood. This is not an issue race, this is an issue of life and death. British people may not donate blood either, but no one assumes racism, it's just the risks of contamination.
The need to be politically correct is damaging society.

It doesn't always screen out...
US/Red Cross blood donation regulations are similarly strict. It's amazing the list of things you can do/places you can go that disqualify you from donating blood for a certain duration of time, if not forever.
That said, I agree with Bruno completely. The authorities need to be COMPLETELY TRANSPARENT about the restrictions. Let there be debate among the public and scientific communities.

To those who are so quick to denounce Israel as racist, calm down.
As #11 indicates, the Center for Disease Control, Atlanta (CDC) has the same regulations -- they are indeed international -- which are enforced by the American Red Cross and other blood donation centers (such as various hospitals).
More transparently, however, the U.S. blood centers decline donations from anyone who has been in certain areas, rather than accepting the blood and disposing of it.
While HIV is the principal reason for exclusion -- particularly but not exclusively because I am told that there is a variant in central Africa that is not necessarily indicated by tests for HIV -- it is not the only reason. "Mad cow disease" is the reason for exclusion of donors from the U.K., etc. Malaria presence in another county is another ground for exclusion.
The CDC revises its recommendations over time, based on changed understandings of disease prevalence in various countries, etc.
I could not give blood for various years for having lived in the Sultanate of Oman 1995-1998, until the CDC realized that malaria, if it exists at all in Oman, is in controlled access areas (Musundam peninsula) that a foreignor (or most Omanis) will never see.
I do agree that prospective donors should be told up front if they can or cannot donate, rather than having their blood taken and then thrown away.

Anyone who stayed in Britain for a certin period of time between 1982 and ---- cant remember, cannot donate blood because of mad cows disease.
However, potential donors are not accepted.
Its terrible that Ethiopians' blood is taken but then disgarded in order not to offend them. It is far more offensive to not tell them the truth.

this situation is a direct result of political correctness. PC is a modern evil that puts a happy face on something negative. In other words, they tried to avoid offending donors, by just letting them donate, and then just never use the blood.
My prediction: Things like this will continue to happen, and escalate, and political correctness will continue to grow. It is a cancer of society, and the champions of PC are simply a minority with a voice and will therefore always triumph over the lazy and quiet.

And as such I've answered the standard questioner that it sounds like MDA is using. If they weren't being careful of the general publics health and a tainted blood scandal developed like in China years ago these same people wouldn't be yelling racism, but would be demanding that the people in charge be tried gross dereliction of duty.
Come on climb down off that cross. The whole world isn't one affront aimed at you.

Your comments do not apply to the facts here because the blood of these people should not have been drawn in the first place if there were special regulations in effect.. However, their blood was drawn knowing that it would be disposed of so the so-called guidelines were not followed. I would not even know what to classify this as.because there are no words for it. It's outright fraud and it stinks of racism as well in my opinion since Ethiopians are discriminated against anyway.

Racism is when u say "ok, u r Ethiopian so you cant give blood", wht they did was they took blood, deceiving ppl into thinking that their blood would be used and then disposed off in the darkness of night. This is more of a fraud issue. If the intentions were true then why not say "Sorry, WHO has said we cant draw blood from you.... "
Also, in Canada, they say if you have been to say a Malaria prone area then you cant give blood for 1 year... it is assumed tht during this 1 yr, whtever diseases u wudve contracted wud show up.... if Israeli r more vigilant, maybe they cud have it for say 5 years but if something dusnt show up for 5 years, theres a good chance he/she doesnt have any disease!

100,000 Sephardic children were subject to near-lethal radiation for "ringworm".
http://www.rense.com/general67/radd.htm
Every Sephardi child was given 35,000 times the maximum dose of x-rays through his head.
There was no mistake made - only Sephardi children received the x-rays, "The Ashkenazi children were told to return to their seats. The dark children were put on the bus."

Sad but unfortunately at this time it is not possible to make good blood out of tainted blood. HIV and AIDS are present in Ethiopia in wide scale. Would it be better to infect all of Israel with it and cause unnecessary deaths? I believe it is kinder to not throw it in the person;s face and probably more costly and time consuming to test each donor .

Israel used the people of Ethiopia. The community plagued by identity crisis, total deterioration! and yet the Israeli policy treats innocent, beutiful people of ethiopia like weapons and trash. I call for a hundred-thousand strong violent demonstration against this Magen David Adom and racist city halls. Jerusalem is home for Ethiopians! not Rchovot, not BeirShaba, and not TelAviv.

Ethiopians that are infected in HIV are in Ethiopia, and they live in the southern part. Ethiopian jews are not infected in HIV, neverthless, blood is checked to tell if it is infected or not before donation. MADM is racist!
Why should Ethiopians donate blood? to save Ashkenazis? Israel is an extreme prejudice against ethiopian jews-so Ethiopians should not donate blood, not pay taxes like Haredim, and not serve in the army like the arabs